By now it has happened

Obamacare.  The GOP promises that we'll have something bigger and better.  With all the rhetoric that has been spewed to the party loyalists, I doubt that they can deliver anything that is half as good as what they pledge to destroy, if only because they never have worked to design something that can replace Obama's signature accomplishment.  It saddens me that the only thing unifying the GOP has been a pledge to destroy healthcare for millions. Yet, it could be much worse.  We don't know what the "new normal" will be in the near future.  

Recently Meryl Streep came out and protested the president elect's style in a recent speech at the Golden Globe award show. She didn't even have to mention him by name.  Was she justified?  She decried the bullying that passes for strength nowadays, and attacked a subculture that wants power for its own sake, and not to do something good with it.  What is wrong with that?

There is a rush to undo the gains made in society over the past 8 years.  We have a president who is likely owned by the Russian government.  He is already breaking some of his many promises, pledging to build a wall along our Southern border with our money, then convincing Mexico to pay for it.  Does anyone really believe that they will do so?  I doubt it very much.  Strangely enough, some of his nominees have more class than Trump has, including Jeff Sessions.  Sessions is willing to say that Waterboarding is torture, something that Trump can't bring himself to say.  Why is that?  Could it be that many Trump supporters only care about their rights, and not the rights of humanity?  Could it be that they have no empathy for others, and like Trump, are on a narcissistic ego trip?  

It is troubling how extreme how today's GOP seems for a centrist.  Abortion should have been a question settled 40 years ago, and it is still in play because of cultural politics. White supremacists have cleaned up their message, and use phrases such as "Southern Heritage" when they fly the Confederate Battle Flag.  (Heck, most of these people don't know that the "Stars and Bars" referred to a different flag, the flag the South wanted to use for its national standard.)  Centrists fear a government led by people who would shut down polling places heavily used by poor people.  Centrists fear a government who would take rights away from the GLBT community because it angers a small religious minority. Centrists fear a government run by people who can not compromise in any way.  And now, we will get to see what a "Right Wing" government will do.

There is a big problem in America, and it is the Urban/Rural divide.  Maybe it is about time that we think of dividing this nation into three separate nations: (1) States along the Pacific Coast, (2) States along the East Coast, and (3) The "Heartland" states.  Each would inherit the US Constitution, but would make its own laws following the dissolution of the America we once knew.  Only then would we be able to see which nation's laws makes the most sense.  But until then, we have this social conflict that can not be resolved, and can result in a second civil war. Hopefully, we will not see that happen....

Thoughts on the coming change in control.

Like it, hate it, but Obamacare (or, the Affordable Care Act) has been a political hot point for the last 6+ years.  If it had been enacted by a Republican administration, the Democrats would be looking to dismantle it.  But it was enacted by Democrats, and the GOP will soon be in charge of that den of iniquity called Washington, DC.

This year's group of Republicans is worse than most one-party governments.  They have already set their sights on dismantling programs designed to help the poor and needy. And they have decided to eliminate a non-partisan ethics office that helped keep politicians in check. There are very few GOP politicians willing to check and balance the incoming president and his tangled web of conflicted interests. And there are even fewer in congress who want the Office of Congressional Ethics keeping an eye on their affairs. What is surprising to me is that the President Elect has chastised congress for not having its priorities in order - they should be focused on things like healthcare instead of the Ethics Bureau.

The President Elect has been amazingly friendly to Russia, given that both the CIA and FBI have stated that the Russians have hacked the computers of the DNC.  I'd bet that Putin is calling Trump a "Useful Idiot" in private circles. Unlike many loyal Americans, I am not angry at Putin. He is acting in the best interests of Russia as he sees it.  Instead, I am angry at many in the GOP who refuse to stand up and tell the President Elect that he must take the hacking allegations seriously.  

Right now, the entire GOP appears to be like a kid in a candy store.  They can have anything they want, and as much of it as they want.  The big question is: Will they over do it?  Given current behavior, the answer appears to be "Yes".  Only time will tell.

A short note on a small plot of land.

In an ideal world, the map of Israel (and its neighbors) would look something like the map above. Israel could be the orange shaded nation in the middle, while Palestine would be tha nation shaded in gray.  This is the "Two-State" solution that most people want and believe in.

With the effective annexation of the West Bank, successful negotiations could have taken place on Israel's terms, as it would control what land would have been given to Palestine for nationhood.  But this was, is, and probably not be what Israel wants to do.  Instead, it has placed illegal settlements in key sites in the West Bank, making it impossible for a practical two-state solution to be negotiated.

There is no way to say any one party to this inter-generational conflict is guilty or innocent. The forebears of today's Israelis were kicked out of the land by the Romans roughly 2,000 years ago.  The British promised this land to both Jews and Arabs at the end of World War 1, and the aftermath of World War 2 made it necessary for Jews to establish a home in their traditional homeland.

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Recently, the US abstained from a vote condemning Israel for its illegal settlements on the West Bank. Trump went wild, saying that Obama has betrayed our national interests.  But whose interests come first - USA's or Israel's?  The only reason that America doesn't abandon Israel is the political support Israel gets from American Jews and Christian Fundamentalists who want a place for the Messiah's second coming.  Both groups support Israel for religious reasons, and not for reasons that benefit America.

There is only one reason for America to support Israel, and that is a moral one. We should support democracies wherever they are found, and respect them even when they act in their interests, not ours.  But if we did that as a policy, we'd never have had the pissing match with Iran, we'd have never have used the CIA to overthrow Salvador Allende, and we'd insisted on an official "Two-China" policy.  Sadly, Israel is evolving into an Apartheid state, and none of the pro-Israel camp seems to care.  Soon, demographics being what they are, there will be more disenfranchised Arabs in the lands Israel controls, and no way to allow them a voice in their lives - as that would come out as "Death to Israel!"

Time is running out for a Two-State solution, and Israel's actions are only making matters worse for that solution.  Our Secretary of State has effectively said, that in a Single State solution, Israel could either be a Jewish state or a Democracy, but not both. Most people want the Two-State solution, but radicals are making this impossible.  Is helping the radical element a way to make peace?  I doubt it. 

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Today's GOP is filled with people who would usurp the power of the presidency and invite the Prime Minister of Israel to speak to Congress, bypassing the State Department.  It looks like they will give Israel everything it asks for - and then some. This is not a healthy development.  It'll be like a kid in a candy store, and mistakes of excess will likely be made. Slow moving initiatives with countries such as Iran will be scuttled.  Who knows what will happen then?

Every nation has a right to be secure in its borders.  And every people have a right to be treated fairly in the nations in which they live. The Israel-Palestine conflict will likely be with us for generations yet to come, as both sides are taking positions only meant to stir up people for the benefit of those other than themselves.  Religious zealots living in Israel have no desire to live in peace with their Muslim neighbors. The Arab side is no better, as Muslims have been taught for generations that the Infidel is their sworn enemy, and that the Infidel must be expelled from Muslim territory.

In a way, the Arab nations are right.  Solve the problem of Jerusalem and you'll solve the problem of the Middle-East.  Sadly, I don't see a huckster real estate promoter being up to the challenges this region will present him in the next four years....

When did America stop being great?

When did America stop being great?

The false prophet always plays his siren's song to the same type of people - those who have lost many benefits of privilege, but don't see that they didn't deserve them in the first place. Trump appeals to those who want to return America to the 1950's, where "White America" ruled the world. Of course, they gloss over evils such as "Jim Crow" and enforced conformity to get there.

It is right to fear what will happen in this country. We're already seeing violence committed by Trump supporters who think they have the right to force others to submit to their will. (We never saw this with the Bushes, Clinton or Obama.) We've opened the social equivalent of an infected pus ball under the skin, and have only started to see the ugly mess come out. There is a lot of repressed hatred coming out from people who could not properly articulate or manage their problems. And it will go somewhere, causing a lot of damage.

We can't expect ignorant people to educate themselves. They often think they have more knowledge than they have, making it impossible for them to see how ignorant they really are. (See: Dunning-Kruger effect.) Think of the person who says: "God said it, I believe it, and That's it!" First, how can he prove that God said something? Next, how can this person know that his preacher or rabbi is telling him the right way to understand the holy book? And then, why is he absolutely sure that his beliefs are correct? Has he tested them? (Even Christ had to undergo tests of faith in the Bible.) These are among the people who have supported Trump, and still follow this extremely flawed leader only out of tribal loyalty.  And now, they have gotten what they want - a messianic leader even more flawed than they are.

Sadly, the worst will likely happen in this country over the next few years. We've already seen the North Carolina legislature go back on a deal involving their law authorizing discrimination against the GLBT community. We've seen that same legislature strip away power from the governor, to keep it in the former executive's party's hands. We've seen that same legislature make it impossible for the opposing political party to have an effective check and balance in the bureau of elections - making sure that the opposition party only has power in non-election years. This is the kind of behavior that signals the end of a republic, and the Trump supporters have "drunk the Kool-Aid."

The "Thousand Year Reich" only lasted 12 years. Who will lead the world when America falls? China? We are unprepared for the loss of what we cherish most, and many of us don't even see what is happening yet. I never experienced fear like this before, as I didn't understand what could be lost. Now, I see evil for what it is, and we've gotten way too close to the fires of Hell not to get burnt. I hope we will reverse this course towards the destruction of our country, but I doubt it.

I am lucky to have experienced America close to its greatest period in history. I am lucky to have known an America that looked outward to the world. I am lucky to have grown up in an America that welcomed diversity. Yes, it was a very flawed America, but one we could be proud of. My sincerest hope is that we will weather this coming storm, and that our children's generation will restore the greatness America lost during this coming era of darkness.